IXtreme 1.5 unlocks your non-Hitachi spinning Xbox 360

We love a good hacker vs. hardware battle, and while Microsoft has thus far done a reasonably good job of keeping miscreants from diddling with the details of the Xbox 360's firmware, applying patches and dropping ban hammers on those who don't comply, as of this morning it seems to be losing the arms race. Team Jungle has released version 1.5 of its IXtreme firmware, allowing for (relatively) easy cracking and unlocking of Xbox 360 consoles containing LiteOn, BenQ, and Samsung DVD drives (i.e. the majority of them). That leaves only Hitachi owners out in the cold, but if that's you don't fret: your version is just a few weeks away. Happy homebrewing!

[Thanks, Andrey M]

[BigD @ Dec 29th 2008 12:34PM]

Finally....

Thank you IXtreme!

[000000 @ Dec 29th 2008 12:36PM]

Won't the xbox just get locked again with a M$ update?

[000000 @ Dec 29th 2008 12:37PM]

Also a no CD check for installed games would be sweet.

[Eric Frazer @ Dec 29th 2008 12:54PM]

no, the xbox will not get locked "again", this hack keeps burnt disks from being detected regardless of the "software" on the 360. keep your disks stealthed and there is no way Microsoft will know

[htd @ Dec 29th 2008 12:42PM]

I think only some old dash version can run homebrew, so those firmwares are mostly for happy piracy to get happy RRoD.

[Erwos @ Dec 29th 2008 12:45PM]

Shh, you're supposed to call them "backups".

[bboston7 @ Dec 30th 2008 7:05AM]

If you're not completely retarded, you can flash you're drive without the rrod. In most cases you can even restore encase of a bad flash.

[nsfw @ Dec 29th 2008 12:46PM]

I've read some forums on hacking the 360 and most of the solutions seem pretty weak.. things like, you may get a lifetime ban if you go live or if you hack this you can no longer go live seem like non starters for me. I guess I have a job and its just a lot easier to buy a game. Its kinda like the directv hacks to me. People wouldn't have service for two weeks while their provider tries to figure out a new hack for new firmware while I just paid my $50 a month and enjoyed service uninterrupted.

[BlurMagic @ Dec 29th 2008 1:17PM]

Yeah. Good point. The thing I find that is funny, is if you can't afford the game, how are you able to pay the monthly Live fees? Just buy the game people. I could see using it for emulating. But using it to duplicate a game that is made for the 360, is just rather pointless to me. I think I'll just fork over $50 for guaranteed performance, and the ability to play online without getting banned.

[PeterF @ Dec 29th 2008 1:34PM]

A second 360 costs only $200. Lots of people who do this have 2 or more 360s

[tom @ Dec 29th 2008 2:18PM]

My friend is doing that. modded for offline game play, unmodded for online. Plus, you can always bring the profile over via memory card.

[kamilatl @ Dec 29th 2008 6:55PM]

Let me explain something for those who don't know. This is how it works. you mod ur xbox360, takes 30 min if u know what to do. then u download game images off bit torrent, use a program call xdvdmulleter that checks ur image and tells/fixes the image for stealth etc... most are good images so u just burn them to a DL DVD which costs bout $1.50 and ur playing. most of the time u can even get games before release dates, or when they are sold out at stores (nba live 09). i believe ixtreme wont let u play bad burned games so that u wont get banned. the only reason i see to pay 50-60 bux a title is if ur loaded with cash or for morality purposes. even though i think its immoral to charge 50-60 bux a game. its actualy more convenient to mod cause u dont have to worry bout scratching a disk and u can get games from the comfort of ur home. also u can play games that arnt as good that u wouldnt normally buy. ive been playing on live for over a year now with no ban. have ~20 titles x 50 bux = 1000 dollars saved. have fun modding :)

[XIYL @ Dec 30th 2008 6:58AM]

@kamilatl

Wow, that has to be the worst formed comment I have ever read but I agree with you anyway. I modded my only 360 to play burned games about 6 months ago and I can still log into live, I haven't experienced any of the negative effects of modding yet and when I do I wont really care.

[Joseph @ Dec 30th 2008 12:06PM]

The irony would be if M$ banned you. b/c it is the only money they will see from you. Neither of you 2 are the type that will buy a 2nd 360. So the only way M$ will get $$$ out of you is monthly.

Why not just use Gamefly for $25/mo and use the Free Xbox Gold hack. Then you dont have to give M$ money.

[tobuscus @ Feb 18th 2009 12:56AM]

Some Xbox games are even $70. It's way cheaper to just buy an xbox, play online til it gets banned, then buy a new Xbox and sell the modded banned one (to someone who doesn't care about online play).

[pidge @ Dec 29th 2008 12:47PM]

I could be wrong but can Microsoft only catch this if you try to play an online game that is a backup? If you use an authentic disc, it should still be ok right?

[Saiko @ Dec 29th 2008 12:56PM]

Yea Pidge, that is the most common thinking of how MS catch and ban people, but no one knows 100% how they track it. I know someone who has been using the 1.2v firmware and plays on live all the time, and he's never been banned. He plays while connected to live but doesn't play much actual online multi-player. He also buys games he thinks are worth paying for.

He's also handsome.

[Eric Frazer @ Dec 29th 2008 12:58PM]

not only do you have to play a backup, but you also have to play a backup that is not properly stealthed. so as long as you dont fail at burning, you are fine.

[sinai @ Dec 29th 2008 1:01PM]

why, thank you, saiko

[Lowest Ranked @ Dec 29th 2008 5:46PM]

Saiko, this isn't really the place to be meeting girls. Unless, you're into dudes, which is cool too.

I guess.

[Joseph @ Dec 30th 2008 12:08PM]

correct
M$ is releasing slightly altered discs/torrents and hoping that people dont fix them. If people dont fix them, then they can catch them.

It's a sort of - to catch a thief you have to become one attempt.

[Bionic Radd @ Dec 29th 2008 12:56PM]

Is there a reason to mess with this that doesn't involve largescale piracy? I always see this crap referred to as Homebrew, but it seems Homebrew almost always refers to emulators. Maybe I am wrong, but I have never seen a convincing argument to mess with this stuff that isn't piracy-related. I am not giving up XBLA to play NES games.

[Dean @ Dec 29th 2008 1:03PM]

you can make and play backups of your own games. if you damage the original disk, you are out 60 bucks, but if you make backups, you cna keep the original safe

[dan @ Dec 29th 2008 1:03PM]

Google 'XBMC'.

[deyanimay @ Dec 29th 2008 1:34PM]

Or better yet someone could make a web browser for the 360.

[rock99rock @ Dec 29th 2008 2:28PM]

@dan

Google "xbmc for 360"

annnnd nothing.

[Matt Ferens @ Dec 29th 2008 3:32PM]

The whole "backup your games to prevent disc wear and tear" is a complete lie. I've had Oblivion since launch and put over 500 hours into it and guess what, my disc is fine. Now with the NXE, you can install your games so the disc doesn't even need to be spinning. The only reason to hack a console is to download the games and burn them without buying them. Doing this only hurts the publishers and small developers. It also hurts the people who follow the rules as they have to deal with more and more patches. Look at PC Gaming. If piracy wasn't as bad as it is, we wouldn't have to deal with all the stupid anti-piracy measures that are being used. Buy the game and actually support something that you like instead of stealing it.

[Dean @ Dec 29th 2008 1:02PM]

this came out a week ago

[Hero @ Dec 29th 2008 7:42PM]

Oh so true. LMAO. Plus nothing can be 100% properly stealthed so there's a small risk factor that will grow larger within about 2 weeks time. It'll probably double by then. And seeing as it's week one down they've probably got enough to call it game for you. I want homebrew without XBLA and that's all. No backups are needed especially with NXE. The only time you don't buy games are if you've got enough balls to figure out how one works, to mod it, to release the mod for free or try to make some homebrew exploit out of it.

[inteller @ Dec 29th 2008 1:06PM]

Happy XBL banning!

[inteller @ Dec 29th 2008 1:08PM]

pft. And if you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you.

MS will get their hands on one of these hacked boxes, figure out what has changed, then send out updates looking for that change and hit owners with a banhammer. They'll ban your box from XBL and cancel any warranty.

[tweak @ Dec 29th 2008 1:18PM]

...and they've yet to achieve this. Nice try though.

[Kurt @ Dec 29th 2008 1:22PM]

going on 2 years now and they haven't done it yet. although they did get me with the RROD

[jas0nuk @ Dec 29th 2008 1:23PM]

Not really. They've spent 3 years trying to do that, and are still failing.

[Arsenic0 @ Dec 29th 2008 3:04PM]

Keep telling yourself this, 2 years and counting.
Online, Offline, before release, value of games > $2000 USD.
Not banned.

[vipercrazy @ Dec 29th 2008 3:14PM]

of course MS hanst picked up on it in 3 years, any publicity is good publicity, this is only .005% of xbox owners what do they care. they cant look like they know nothing about it so they have some sort of policy against it.

[hordak @ Dec 29th 2008 1:27PM]

Hitachi owners aren't out in the cold, they are running 1.4 just fine. It was just the liteon that was thought to be unhackable until now.

[aggrazel @ Dec 29th 2008 1:31PM]

Is it responsible journalism to give links to sites promoting illegal activity?

[jax @ Dec 29th 2008 1:41PM]

It would be irresponsible journalism not too. Knowledge is just a tool. It's up to you how you use it.

[Dead_Rebel @ Dec 29th 2008 1:56PM]

And since this is a blog and not a responsible news site, does it really even matter?

[The Dude @ Dec 29th 2008 2:12PM]

1. Terms of Use ≠ Law
2. There are legitimate back-ups. Especially if you've got a 360 with the drive that can/does scratch discs if you move the console while the drive is active.

[NewsGuy @ Dec 29th 2008 3:03PM]

This is a blog, hack bloggers only pretending to be journalists run these type of websites. This is what you get as a result - a story mascarading as news but really nothing more than contributory copyright infringement.

[Bionic Radd @ Dec 29th 2008 5:38PM]

If you move the console while the drive is spinning, you are an idiot and therefore, deserve to have your game destroyed. I know I am not the only one that grew up with PCs that remembers the old rule of not just turning off your PC, but turning it off and unhooking everything before moving it. The 360 is not a laptop. Expecting them to design the console in such a way that allows you to move the console while the disc is spinning is beyond unreasonable.

[mnemo @ Dec 29th 2008 2:01PM]

This has nothing to do with homebrew software, since it only bypasses the detection of original discs. It does NOT circumvent the signing process of executables, i.e. allowing "other" software to be executed. It does allow putting non-original game data on discs, supposedly working on exploits, but since the days of the King Kong exploit is has been very quiet on that front. The hack here is surely used 99% for pirated game discs. In the three years that I've got a 360 now I haven't had ONE game disc break, thus needing a backup...

[rodalpho @ Dec 29th 2008 2:26PM]

Exactly. This is not about homebrew. There is no 360 homebrew of note. There is no XBMC for the 360. These hacked DVD firmwares are _exclusively_ useful for pirates. Whether engadget wants to write that kind of news is up to their editors, but don't try to cover it up by saying "it lets people run linux" and such. It doesn't.

[Gideon @ Dec 29th 2008 2:47PM]

Why don't they work on a real useful and worthwhile hack???

Like oh say getting it so we can install our own hard disk drives. I don't care about homebrewing, or any other crazy hax!! I just want to be able to upgrade my HDD on my own and more importantly paying realistic prices for hard drives and not that crazy M$360 Hard Drive 120 GB $149.99 (I say fowl price indeed).

[austin @ Dec 29th 2008 2:58PM]

Completely agree. I feel these people could be using their talent for better.

[Rome @ Dec 29th 2008 5:55PM]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/150970/upgrade_your_xbox_360s_hard_drive_on_the_cheap.html

[isaac @ Dec 29th 2008 2:56PM]

I'm sorry guy, but "Happy homebrewing?"... This release only adds support for a dvd unit that was not supported before. Hombrew is far from running on xbox360, it only runs on old consoles with old CONSOLE firmwares and there is not exactly a "scene" out there writing firmware. Even more, it is close to impossible right now to downgrade from a new firmware to the "homebrew friendly" one.

[David @ Dec 29th 2008 3:04PM]

Ya um... the firmware was actually released on the 24th. A little late, but good for those that didn't know...